A common type of pedestal for supporting loads has a central hub and angularly spaced arms which extend out from the hub and connect with caster wheels or other floor contacting structure. A post extends upward from the hub to connect with the load which may variously be a stand for holding a television receiver or the like, a swivel chain or any of a variety of other objects.
The general configuration of pedestals of this kind results in sizable stress forces at the hub region of the structure. To assure adequate strength at that region, it has been the usual practice to form the hub and arms as permanently joined components. The hub and arms may be manufactured as a single unitary element or may be secured together by welding or by high strength adhesive and screws depending on the material used in the construction.
Such unitary or unitized constructions provide the necessary structural strength but also cause the pedestal to be very bulky and cumbersome to handle. This greatly complicates packaging, distribution and storage of the pedestals. The bulk, weight and irregular shape can also make it more difficult to move the assembly from one place to another.
A number of other products are often distributed to the consumer in a disassembled or partially disassembled state in order to alleviate problems of the kind discussed above. This is practical if the assembly process is simple and does not require specialized skills and /or specialized tools. Traditional pedestal constructions are not in that category. A knock down pedestal designed for assembly by consumers or other untrained persons should not require welding, forming of adhesive reinforced screw joints or other operations that require unusual equipment or which can result in a joint of inadequate strength if performed by person who lack specialized skills.
My copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 791,088, filed Oct. 24, 1985, and entitled Compactible Pedestal, describes a pedestal construction which alleviates the problems discussed above. The arms and hub are initially separated elements which can be distributed and stored as a very compact package and which are easily assembled and interlocked to form a high strength unitized pedestal. A knock-down pedestal which has fewer, although larger, parts in the disassembled state and which involves an even simpler assembly process would also be advantageous.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems discussed above.